• Premier League

Mourinho lifts ban on Chelsea Christmas party

Jose Mourinho is so impressed with Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season that he has permitted his players a Christmas party after cancelling last year's event.

Mourinho abandoned plans for a festive celebration in 2013 following a shock League Cup defeat at Sunderland, where Chelsea return today looking to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points.

Jose Mourinho thinks it will be tough for his Chelsea team to be overtaken at the top of the Premier League © Getty Images

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The Chelsea manager had been concerned by the display on Wearside last December, given Sunderland were bottom of the league at the time, but has given the go-ahead for a family party despite a hectic schedule of nine matches in a month.

"They are doing very well," said Mourinho. "Probably because of that, the club is preparing a little Christmas party for them and their families.

"There are Christmas parties and 'Christmas parties'. This one I think the families deserve and the boys are very happy to be with their families.

"This is a squad with a lot of kids aged from a couple of weeks to 10 years old. It's good for them. For good things, we will find the time.

"My kids are 14 and 18. I don't think they belong at this [kind of] party. But I think I have to go to say a couple of words and after that, to leave the players there with their families and kids."

Chelsea travel to Sunderland as champions-elect in many people's eyes - unbeaten with 10 wins from 12 games and six points clear at the summit.

Mourinho has confidence his side, whose last league loss was to Sunderland in April, will not suffer an alarming dip and believes it would take something special for Chelsea to be dethroned.

"It would take some other clubs winning every match," he said. "With my team, I don't believe in bad periods. I believe in a defeat. I believe that there are many, many difficult matches ahead of us, so many points to lose. I believe in that.

"But I don't believe in bad moments. The team is a good team, a solid team. The players know what they want and how to reach it."

Despite talking up Chelsea's new-found "beauty and flair" earlier this week after they put five goals past Schalke in the Champions League, Mourinho does not expect perceptions of his side to alter.

"At Real Madrid we scored 126 goals and we were a defensive team, so I don't think I have a chance to change the perception," he added. "Every ingredient has a space when you are cooking a team. You need a bit of flair, yes. But you cannot lose the work-rate, the objectivity.

"You have to be defensively solid and strategic in some matches. In some matches, the percentage of strategy has to be higher than the other ingredients.

"At this moment I have a group of players who have this natural quality, this natural talent and creativity. I adapt to it and I try to build a team where their qualities can flourish."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd